Music and Psychoactive Substances: Cultural Practices, Adolescent Development and Music Therapy in Addiction Treatment

Adolescent risk-taking, including substance experimentation, is a way of testing the self within social boundaries. Psychoactive substances historically co-evolved with music and popular culture, normalizing their use among young people. The chapter examines the neurobiological overlap between drug-induced euphoria and music-elicited pleasure, both engaging the brain's dopaminergic reward system. This overlap provides a theoretical basis for using music therapy (MT) as a complementary intervention for substance use disorder (SUD). Evidence indicates that MT modulates neural activity, contributes to symptom reduction, emotional regulation, and enhanced motivation, supporting recovery in SUD treatment.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Music and psychoactive substances play a key role in forming identity during adolescence. Grasping the historical, neurobiological, and clinical aspects of this relationship is crucial for exploring how music therapy (MT) can support recovery from substance use disorder (SUD). In this chapter, the discussion begins by framing adolescent risk-taking, including substance experimentation, as a way of testing the self within a social context and its boundaries. Psychoactive substances are examined not merely as objects of pathology but as tools that historically co-evolved with music and popular culture, all playing a role in normalizing and contextualizing their use for young people. By analyzing what’s “behind the scenes,” the chapter examines the neurobiological isomorphism between drug-induced euphoria and the pleasure elicited by listening to music, both of which strongly involve the brain’s dopaminergic reward system. This overlap provides the theoretical basis for using MT as a complementary intervention in the treatment of SUD. All in all, the chapter presents evidence of how MT modulates neural activity and contributes to symptom reduction, emotional regulation, and enhanced motivation, thereby supporting recovery in SUD treatment.